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(No Model.)

P. E. MUNN.

ENVELOP.

Patented Sept. 28,

ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- FRANK E. MUNN, OF NEW' YORK, N. Y.

ENVELOP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 590,900, datedSeptember 28, 1897.

Application filed October 15, 1895. Serial No. 555,734. (No model.)

1'0 all whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, FRANK E. MUNN, of New York city, in the county andState of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement inEnvelops, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to devices for opening envelops; and the object ofthe invention is to provide a deyice adapted to constitute practically aportion of the envelop and to be substantially concealed therein, whichdevice is to be located at one or. both ends or sides of the envelop,the device being in the nature of an endless thread, wire, or cordinterlaced or stitched in an edge of the envelop, being so connectedwith the said envelop that there are no ends exposed or left to becovered by tags or the pasting on ofprotective paper or pockets orshields or anything necessary to be torn off in order to gain access tothe opening device and without disfiguring the envelop before opening orafterward.

Another object of the invention is to provide a thread, cord, or wirefor opening an envelop, so connected with the envelop that portionsthereof will be exposed, but drawn so close to the envelop as to affordno opportunity for accidentally opening the same, and whereby theenvelop may receive a most violent handling without displacing theopener, and whereby, further, in opening the envelop the exposedportions of the opener will be so located as to be conveniently andhandily reached by the thumb and fingers of the operator.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the opener'that theenvelop may be opened in a perfectly clean manner and with a sharp cutand without a possible chance of mutilating its contents.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of theseveral cate corresponding parts in both the figures.

. Figure 1 is a partial side elevation of an envelop, a portion of theenvelop being broken away to disclose the improved opener attachedthereto, the opener being in side elevation; and Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of the envelop, illustrating it as partially opened by theopening device.

In carrying out the invention the improved opener B may be located atone or at both ends of the envelop A or at its top or its bottom edge.The opener consists of a practically double or endless strand of cord,thread, or wire which is carried out through the edge of the envelop atone end, being somewhat near the top, through an opening 10 and thenceWithin the envelop througha-second and adjacent opening 11,corresponding-openings being made near the bottom edge of the envelop,for example, thereby forming practically two loops 12 between theapertures 1.0 and 11, and the outer strand 13 of the cord, thread, orwire lies close to the inner face of the envelop, while the inner strand14 is carried upward and connected with the upper end of the outerstrand, the connection being made by a knot 15 or its equivalent, andthe thread, cord, or wire is drawn so taut that the loops 12 willclosely cling to the outside of the envelop and thus not interfere withpackages in a'maiLb-ag or other receptacle, the loops being likewiseprevented from entangling with or being caught by any object calculatedto draw them from the envelop.

It will thus be observed that the opening device consists of apractically-en dless thread, cord, or wire threaded through the envelopat each side of the centerof that portion of the envelop to which thefastener is applied.

In order to open the envelop, it is only necessary to take hold of oneof the loops 12 and draw the thread, cord, or wire downward and outwardin direction of the opposite loop, as shown in Fig. 2, whereupon theedge of the envelop to whichthe fastener is applied will be neatly andquickly opened without danger of mutilatin g the contents of saidenvelop.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- The combination'with an envelop, of a strand withinthe envelop and having one end passed from the interior of the envelopout through one edge of the same adjacent to the end thereof and thenback again into the interior to form a loop lying 011 the exterior ofsaid edge, the said end of the strand being then extended along theinterior of the envelop adjacent to the opposite end of said edge andpassed out through the same and back again to the interior to form asecond loop lying on the exterior of said edge, the ends of the strandbeing then secured togot-her within the envelop forming an endlessstrand, the whole of which except the loops \0 lie Within theenvelop,substantially as herein shown and described.

FRANK E. MUNN. Witnesses:

J. FRED AOKER, F. M. HANAFORD.

